Dean Baker's Blog, page 544

The Impact of Cuts to the Military Budget

The Post reported on a speech that General David Petraeus gave at the ceremony marking his retirement from the military. It noted that he warned against excessive cuts in the military. The piece notes that cuts in the range of $400 billion to $1 trillion over the next decade have been suggested by President Obama and members of Congress.

It would have been helpful to put these numbers in context for readers. The current projections show a baseline where the government will spend just under...

Spain Had Budget Surpluses Prior to the Recession

In an article on plans by the Spanish government to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, the Post told readers that:

"annual deficits spiked during the recession."

This statement implies that the country was already running deficits before the recession. In fact, Spain had budget surpluses in the three years prior to the downturn.

Spain's problems have nothing to do with excessive government spending or budget deficits, they stem from the collapse of a huge housing...

The Post and Iowa Assistant Attorney General Patrick Madiigan Mislead Readers on Bank Settlement (see addendum)

The Post ran an article on efforts to reach a settlement between 50 states suing banks over their mortgage issuance and foreclosure practices. The piece is about dissension among the plaintiffs, most notably New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is insisting on a stronger settlement that will address a wide range of abuses by the banks.

The piece is told primarily from the standpoint of those pushing for a quick settlement. Without comment it presents the clearly inaccurate...

The Post and Iowa Assistant Attorney General Patrick Madiigan Mislead Readers on Bank Settlement

The Post ran an article on efforts to reach a settlement between 50 states suing banks over their mortgage issuance and foreclosure practices. The piece is about dissension among the plaintiffs, most notably New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is insisting on a stronger settlement that will address a wide range of abuses by the banks.

The piece is told primarily from the standpoint of those pushing for a quick settlement. Without comment it presents the clearly inaccurate...

Post Tells Readers that Super Committee Staff Pick Raises Fears of Spending Cutbacks, Deeper Downturn

Actually, the Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) would never be concerned about such things. However, the first paragraph of an article on the appointment of a staff director to the Super Committee told readers the selection of Mark Prater was:

"buoying hopes that the panel would produce a plan to tame borrowing."

The way that borrowing is "tamed" is either by raising taxes or cutting spending. With prospect for tax increases limited given the current make-up of Congress, most of the story...

Post Tells Readers that Super Committee Staff Pick Raises Fees of Spending Cutbacks, Deeper Downturn

Actually, the Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) would never be concerned about such things. However, the first paragraph of an article on the appointment of a staff director to the Super Committee told readers the selection of Mark Prater was:

"buoying hopes that the panel would produce a plan to tame borrowing."

The way that borrowing is "tamed" is either by raising taxes or cutting spending. With prospect for tax increases limited given the current make-up of Congress, most of the story...

With Detroit Leading the American League Central Division, the Republicans Are Now Demanding Budget Cuts to Pay for Disaster Relief

This true statement would have been much better than the sentence in an NYT article on whether disaster relief funding should be offset by other budget cuts that told readers:

"But with the federal debt now more than $14 trillion, the dialogue has shifted on Capitol Hill, and Republicans are under pressure to hold firm on spending."

It's not clear that the size of the debt is in any way requiring Republicans to "hold firm" on spending, apart from their own efforts to press the issue. The...

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Have the Double-Dippers Been Dipping Too Much?

The Commerce Department just released data showing that real consumption spending rose by 0.5 percent in July. This makes it highly unlikely that growth will turn negative in the current quarter. Consumption is 70 percent of GDP and this figure implies a 6.0 percent annual growth rate.

Of course consumption is not really growing that fast, more likely it is increasing at near a 2.0 percent annual rate, but maybe this number will shut up the arithmetic challenged economists who keep talking...

The Canadian Oil Pipeline: Good for 2 Days Worth of Jobs

Robert Samuelson urged President Obama to support the building of an oil pipeline to Canada which would facilitate the import of oil from Canadian oil sands. One of his arguments is that:

"TransCanada, the pipeline's sponsor, says the project should result in 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs. Most would be American, because 80 percent of the 1,661-mile pipeline would be in the United States."

If the pipeline's sponsor's job estimate is taken at face value, it implies that the...